The Barbarian Group (now Barbarian) is an interactive marketing firm based in New York that creates consumer experiences for the digital world and has blazed a trail exploring how technology can invigorate and empower people through connectivity. With a highly constrained budget, the Design Team adapted an existing 20,000-square-foot office and amenity space for a flexible community of 125-175 Barbarians, recycling perimeter rooms and services for acoustically controlled spaces while surgically clearing the central zone.
Conventional office tools have become, for the most part, largely redundant. Nowadays, most people only need flat surfaces to work on with their computers or laptops and other equipment, and easily accessible places to meet and collaborate. We were excited at the idea of massively simplifying this concept to illustrate how radically different the workplace could be when you alter the ‘job description’. With these simplified needs in mind, the Design Team envisioned an ‘Endless Table’ that would connect everyone. The surface one Barbarian works on would be the same as the surface another Barbarian works on, and that surface would connect everyone in a single mission. Similar to an electrical wire, the table surface itself becomes a medium for connecting and centering the Barbarian community.
The plywood structure rises from the existing oak floor as pony walls to support the table. Since the movement routes bisect the space, the Design Team opted to lift the table over pathways to maintain surface continuity. The resulting grotto-like spaces underneath these ‘arches’ are characterized by a vigorous plywood coffer structure and offer a variety of amenities. These spaces can accommodate meetings of up to 8 people, provide private and high counter workspace, and house shelving and other storage. The pearlescent white surface was finished with a clear epoxy coating, further emphasizing the fluid nature of the table.
Initially drawn by hand and then molded in a physical model, the plywood structure was thereafter shaped digitally. A detailed computer model was constructed by the Design Team and analyzed by the engineer, and then laser-cut in sections off-site. In its final form, the table is made up of 870 unique plywood panels, 4,400 square feet of table surface and 1,100 linear feet of perimeter edge surface – with a starting density of 5’-0” linear foot per Barbarian.
